Idea - Sanitize Spa With Extremely High Levels Of Salt

[jackmorgan]

I was reading an article today about the dead sea and how very few types of microorganisms can survive the extremely high level of salt (around 35%). Would it not be possible to do the same in a spa? I realize the equipment would have to be all stainless steel / titanium and i'm sure some extra engineering would be required to deal with salt crystalization and water filtering, but the benefits would be enormous. Chemical usage could be eliminated and high levels of salt are apparently great for your skin. It would definitely necessitate a shower after spa use, but i do that anyway.

I couldn't really find any information about this on the web, so I'll just see what other people think. Maybe i'm crazy.

Thanks.

Jack

[Dr. Spa]

First off, this is a public message board., Anyone who wants to respond may. If you'd like to limit who may or may not respond, by all means go start you're own website.

Second of all, you're unlikely to find anyone with much experience with this OUTSIDE of the industry. I've had a bit of experience with this working on flotation/isolation tanks.....but, apparently you're not interested in my years of actual experience

[Hillbilly Hot Tub]

It would be great to find a system that did not use chlorine, bromine or biguinades. The mineral sticks or on this idea, the earth filters our lakes and rivers, so why not the spa. Where there are issues is the kill time, would the salt have a quick enough kill time? Plus the cost of a spa I would imagine would be so exspensive it would never sell....but we will see where tecnology takes us.

[jackmorgan]

First off, this is a public message board., Anyone who wants to respond may. If you'd like to limit who may or may not respond, by all means go start you're own website.

Second of all, you're unlikely to find anyone with much experience with this OUTSIDE of the industry. I've had a bit of experience with this working on flotation/isolation tanks.....but, apparently you're not interested in my years of actual experience

Ok, i'm interested, please let me know what info you have.

Jack

[chem geek]

Jack,

First of all, stainless steel does not do well in high salt environments -- especially above around 5000 ppm or so salt. You can read more about this in this PDF file from the EPA. It would be hard finding appropriate materials that would not corrode in such a harsh environment. The level of salt you are talking about is far higher than even that found in sea water -- it's essentially brine or salt saturated with water.

Second, as was already pointed out, salt at such high levels may kill bacteria faster than they can reproduce, but that does not mean it kills them fast enough to prevent person-to-person transmission via the fecal-to-oral route which is the main reason disinfectants are used in pools and spas. The use of metal ions (e.g. Nature2, Frog, etc.) have a similar inhibiting effect, but do not kill very quickly. Also, it's not clear whether viruses would be inactivated -- they tend to not be affected very much by the metal ions so might not be affected as much by salt either. A pool or spa is not a static environment -- bathers are introducing new bacteria and viruses and protozoa, especially in shared water uses where you are essentially taking a bath with others.

Also, such high salt levels would be VERY uncomfortable if any water got into the eyes or if you had any cuts or open sores exposed to that water.

Richard

[B0Darc]

Welcome new dude,

Interesting post, but when you try and re-invent the wheel you have to first consider how long the "wheel" has been around. Salt? still a viable topic, especially here. Do a search for "SWG" or Salt Water Generator. Remember salt is sodium and chlorine and there are pool/spa systems the ionize the salt water to free the chlorine for sanitation. Also Boron salts (borates) are used to buffer the water and stabilize chlorine and change the water quality in positive tactile ways (Calgon take me away), so be sure to read any Borate or Borax topics.

Spa water, simply put, is just carefully buffered salt water. The Devil is in the "careful" details, and as it has struck you, there is more than one way to skin that cat. Listen to these guys and read backwards down the list. Most any question you might ask has already been answered... it's that whole "illusion of re-invention" thing. This forum does not support "stickys" and it's just as well ...as it would ALL be stickys, so you may have to travel way down the list to find the best stuff. There is actually some truly revolutionary reading to be had... pool/spa-water-wise.